World Rugby will team up with the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) for the 2023 World Cup in France. Under the terms of the agreement between the two parties, the AFLD will provide qualified and experienced sample-takers, and will be responsible for collecting all blood and urine samples and delivering them for analysis to the French anti-doping laboratory in Paris. As an added bonus, World Rugby and the France 2023 organizing committee will launch a specific awareness campaign during the tournament, on September 23 and 24, 2023, a weekend dubbed “Keep Rugby Clean“. In a press release, World Rugby recalls that more than 2,500 urine and blood samples were taken on its initiative in 2022, from players of over 60 nationalities. For the current year, the testing program is focusing on the 20 teams qualified for the World Cup, using biological passport data and information.
